PGA Championship leaderboard 2016: Henrik Stenson, Jason Day making run at Baltusrol

The final groups at the PGA Championship are getting deep into their front nine at Baltusrol and we’re being set up for a manic sprint to the finish. The course is wet and soft, allowing the best in the world to take dead aim at these pins on receptive greens. The back nine is pretty vulnerable too, with benign conditions, little wind and gettable hole locations. And then there’s those two finishing par-5s, a completely unique course feature that you never get in major championship golf and could jumble the leaderboard at the end with birdies and eagles.

The prime contenders late in the afternoon are Jimmy Walker, Henrik Stenson, Brooks Koepka, Jason Day and Branden Grace. Walker is trying to become the first wire-to-wire PGA winner since Phil Mickelson did it at this same venue in 2005. Given his uneven season and shaky statistical profile this year, you thought he might relent -- that the first or second round was an aberration and he’d fall back to the middle of the pack on the weekend. But the big hitter has kept the pedal down and stayed out in front. A wayward drive on the front nine did nothing to derail his round, and he’s opened with a spate of pars to stay at 11-under.

Grace was the early mover, trying to run down the other four who are playing much later in the day. The South African, who was in contention at last year’s U.S. Open and PGA, went out in 31 to shoot up the leaderboard. At one point he was just a shot off the lead, but the players around him have a lot more holes to add birdies to their total. He still had a chance to go out, post a number and then let the final groups try and deal with the pressure of playing late on Sunday at a major.

The two most accomplished players hovering near the top of the board are Day and Stenson. They’re also probably playing for “Player of the Year” honors too. A second major for Stenson would lock it up for the Swede, while a major would be a strong addition to another huge three-win year, so far, for Day. We thought Stenson might take a step back this week. We were told he was pretty weary from all the post-Open media and obligations he did throughout Europe. And then he came over late and said his prep was not what he wanted it to be. But here he is, just a shot out of the lead and close to winning his second major in three weeks.

Day was the heavy favorite at the start of the round, but two unexpected bogeys in his first three holes stunted those chances, Of course, we watched Day on Friday make seven birdies in eight holes during that middle stretch of the course and he’s still got that ahead of him. He got one back with this putt on the fifth.

It does appear that we’re going to sneak this in before darkness, which seemed impossible this time on Saturday. So we should know our winner, likely coming from that crop of five top guns. Here’s your current board:

1 Jimmy Walker -11
2 Henrik Stenson -10
T3 Branden Grace -9
T3 Brooks Koepka -9
T3 Jason Day -9
T6 Tyrrell Hatton -7
T6 Paul Casey -7
T6 Hideki Matsuyama -7
T6 Robert Streb -7
T10 Padraig Harrington -6
T10 Webb Simpson -6
T10 William McGirt -6
T10 Daniel Summerhays -6
T10 Emiliano Grillo -6
T15 Kevin Kisner -5
T15 Adam Scott -5
T15 Jordan Spieth -5
T15 Patrick Reed -5
T15 Martin Kaymer -5